Key Take Aways

Key Takeaways &/or Action Points

Structure is going to help you to have clarity and avoid the confusion

What you do want to do is get really clear on what’s the thing most of your clients really need help with.

Think of it in terms of being a door

Think about your own garden of your offerings

Think about what is that one thing that can be like a door

Make things clear for people

SHOW NOTES:

Hello, hello, hello! And welcome to this week’s episode of Creative Business Success. Today we’re going to be talking about whether your creativity could actually be stopping clients buying from you. I know, it might sound a bit counter-intuitive thing but trust me. Stay watching and we’re going to help you to increase your sales.

00:25 -

For those of you that haven’t met me before, my name is Una Doyle. I’m the founder of CreativeFlow.tv and a business coach for creatives. What I do is help creative business owners to achieve their goals faster, profitably, and with creativity that fills their soul with pride.

00:44 -

Let’s talk about today’s topic then. Could your creativity be killing your sales? The thing is, confused people don’t buy. Now, that might seem obvious yet time and time again when I’m talking with creative business owners they actually are confusing their clients. It isn’t clear enough; what it is that they really do? How is it that they help people? Can they even help that person with that particular problem?

01:21 -

Why does this happen? Well, quite often, it’s because those of us who are more creatively minded tend to have lots and lots of ideas going on. We love to do lots of things, and we love to have freedom, and we don’t want to feel constrained. The thing is that it’s just so important that you focus in and really help people to know what it is that you’re doing.

01:49 -

Please share this. Add a comment down below in terms of what’s your biggest challenge and do you think you could be confusing your clients. If you have a website, go to your website. Maybe you focused on a LinkedIn profile or a Facebook page. Wherever it is you primarily get your clients from, go to that platform and look at it with a fresh pair of eyes. Does it pass the 3-second rule?

02:32 -

The 3-second rule is, is it immediately obvious that if somebody who had no idea who you are, who have never met you before, never even heard of you, have no idea what you did, would they be able to look at your website and get an idea of what it is that you do. And to be able to recognize themselves as to, can this person help me? I offer a great free resource which I’ll tell you about in a few moments. I’ll pop that link into the comments for you so that you can pick it up at the end of the show.

03:06 -

The thing is that it’s all about structure. Structure is going to help you to have clarity and avoid the confusion. Think about it. Think about maybe a time when you’ve been at a networking event or even just at a social gathering, friends or family. You ask somebody what they do and maybe you don’t quite understand what that is and maybe you even might have exchanged cards or details and you go and look at their website and you’re still not any clearer.

03:40 -

Now that person could actually help you solve a problem that you have but you might not even really realize it because they are trying to be all things to all people. Or perhaps they’re making assumptions or using jargon or talking very much about what they do but not in a way that resonates with their ideal clients. You’ve got to be careful not to be doing those things.

04:08 -

What you do want to do is get really clear on what’s the thing most of your clients really need help with. What is it that you know, it’s absolutely in your zone of genius that you are completely in flow doing? You don’t need to be referring to notes, or picking out books, or anything that you can just do this. You’re able to talk about it if you were on a journey in a car with somebody and they ask you about this, you’ll be able just go and talk with them about it. Tell them what’s the best way to do this or not do it. Whether that’s about branding, or design, or video production, or copywriting, photography, or whatever it is that you do.

04:56 -

Think of it in terms of being a door. You don’t need to give everybody a whole menu of what you do because it’s just too much. I mean, have you ever been to those restaurants where they have a massive menu and it’s overwhelming. I know I feel like that. There’s just too much choice. It’s like, “Oh gosh I don’t even know what I want” and it takes you so long to look through it, “Oh gosh I don’t know what I’m going to choose” and it can take ages, and you get distracted, and you start chatting, and then the waiter comes over, and you haven’t decided. You don’t want to be having that effect on your prospective clients.

05:43 -

What you do want them to do is in a conversation with you or by landing on your webpage or whatever social platform that they’re able to know what it is you do for people, how you help them. Have a look at these things. A great way of thinking about it is just understanding that really our worlds now are like a garden full of weeds. There is just so much noise going on. There is so much competition out there for you and not just people who do the same things as you do but people who might provide alternatives. Of course, there’s always the alternative of somebody doing nothing which doesn’t help them at all if they have a problem you can help solve.

06:31 -

I want you to think about your own garden of your offerings and think about what is that one thing that can be like a door that when people walk through that door and you work with them on that thing, then you can help them with other things. You just have this very simple and clear thing. It doesn’t mean you haven’t got multiple products of course. Any long term, successful, sustainable business is probably going to have multiple products. There’s clever ways of doing it but it’s really just about not overwhelming people when they first encounter you and giving you a means of where things are synergistic, and they’re connected to each other, and they follow on from each other, and that makes it really easy for you to either get repeat sales or to have an extension of sales where you do this, and then they need that, and then they need this. Basically, it just makes things clear for people. When things are clear and they can see, “Oh this person can help me with this problem. Great! Let’s go for it.”

07:39 -

I mentioned a free resource; it’s a free guide called the #1 Surefire Strategy to Raise Your Prices Without Push Back. Getting clear on things is one of the things that I talk about in that guide. There’s also some really important mindset shifts and a way of looking at your pricing that can really help you to charge more and to attract a higher caliber of client that is going to be much more fun for you to work with and really help you to be able to do work that you’re proud of and be well-rewarded for that. I’ll pop the links in the comments so you can go and get that.

8:19 -

Now, has this been of value to you? If it has, please like, love, put whatever great reaction you have there, comment, and please share this out because I’m on a mission to help as many creative business owners as I can. I’m a creative person as well. I’m an actor and into making films. I just have met too many people on my journey who aren’t achieving their goals. This affects them personally and I don’t want that. I want creative people to be out there and doing their thing, making an impact on the world, creating a dent on the universe, and making a really great living from it. So, share this out. Get this message out to a wider group of people.

Fantastic! I will see you same time next week. I do this every Wednesday 4:30 PM GMT, 11:30 AM EST and I look forward to seeing you then. Bye!

About the Author

Una is a Business Coach & Strategist for Creative Services Providers (Design, Animation, Marketing/Digital Agencies, etc.).
She helps them to stand out from the crowd confidently & profitably so they can attract high-level, 'Ready to Invest' clients, doing creative work that fills their hearts with pride - WITHOUT selling their soul or adding extra workload.